If you check your paycheck stub, you find an entry labeled FICA, which is an acronym for Federal Insurance Contributions Act. Your “contribution” is matched by your employer and is deposited in the Social Security Trust Fund. It shows you how much money was paid into the Trust Fund by employers, employees, and the self-employed in 1998 (the figures used are from the IRS). (more…)

To qualify for Social Security benefits, you must have worked a certain number of years. Your eligibility is measured in credits. If you were born after 1929, you must accumulate forty credits or work for ten years to qualify. You earn one credit for each quarter of the year you work.

You can begin to receive benefits as early as age 62, (more…)

Some employee working for employers are been offered some type of pension plan. If a pension plan meets several federal government requirements, it can achieve “qualified” plan’s status. A qualified pension plan enables participating employees to save money for retirement and put it into a retirement account that is subject to the requirements of the regulatory. Money in this type of account earns tax-deferred interest, the advantages of such is you don’t have to pay income taxes on the earnings until you draw your money. On the other case, if you draw money from your retirement (more…)

Almost all people don’t really know what excessive spending may hurt them in the long run. When they are closer to retirement, they get much smarter about what things really cost them. For this “born again” financial savvy person, cost is not just the some amount of money being paid for buying things, or even any associated interest costs. The cost is really in lost of potential savings that could have been compounded into very meaningful numbers needed in retirement (more…)

I’ve written recently about the myth of retirement. Certainly, as baby boomers lose jobs at the end of their careers and watch their savings drop, retirement as a myth has become a reality for many.

We were actually sold a bill of goods. Or we chose to buy into a fantasy that wasn’t ever going to work. (more…)

As more and more medical breakthroughs continue raising the average lifespan across the world, people are living more accomplished, fulfilling lives well into old age. People are fond of saying things like, “Sixty is the new fifty!”, and they are not actually that far off the mark. Today, people well into their seventies, eighties and even their nineties are getting around and living life like never before. Things that used to hold the elderly back, like incontinence and certain disabilities, are being dealt with better than ever before by an amazing array of products. (more…)

For many people what to do after retiring is a dilemma…make sure you have a plan beforehand.

How many times have you heard…She worked hard all her life and died the year she retired. That sadly can happen to anyone. You have a better chance of having a long, happy retirement if you plan and set goals for things you want to accomplish. (more…)

The main property types that attract pension funds to invest are office property, commercial, and industrial. Pension Fund Investments do not tend to invest in residential property. Big Funds Company prefers direct property investment; whereas small funds prefer indirect investment through exempt property unit trusts (like the Pension Fund Property Unit Trust).

The main targets of direct property investment are the attainment of a safe rental income and an increment of capital value. (more…)

If you are asking yourself, how much to retire? You are asking yourself the wrong question. It should be how bad do I want to retire?

It is 2009 and 401K’s have turned into 201K’s…or worse. It is especially cruel to the baby boomers that have saved and saved only to see many years of steady gains disappear in their portfolios.

There is hope to still go ahead and retire if you are willing to examine some alternatives to “normal” retirement. (more…)